FRESNO, Calif. — District attorneys’ offices in three San Joaquin Valley counties filed dozens of environmental charges against Union Pacific Railroad, alleging operators knew about hazardous chemicals leaking from moving train cars but did nothing, the Modesto Bee reported.
The complaints, filed Monday in Stanislaus, Merced and Madera counties, list 69 incidents in February and December 2001 in which hazardous materials spilled from Union Pacific trains. In both instances, the complaints allege, railroad officials knew about chemical lime spilling from moving trains but failed to notify authorities in the counties they passed through. San Joaquin and Sacramento counties are considering charges.
Both trains made stops in Fresno and continued north, with one car spilling its load as it went, the complaints say. The charges, most dealing with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and water code violations, are for each time a leaking train passed over a creek or river.
In a prepared response to the charges, Sacramento attorney Craig C. Allison said the railroad takes “environmental responsibilities seriously.”
A leak on Dec. 28, 2001, worried authorities up and down the Valley, who shut off roads near the Union Pacific line.
Lime is a chemical with several applications. Merced County Deputy District Attorney Brett Morris, who filed the charges, said it is toxic to fish.
All the charges are misdemeanors. The company faces more than $25,000 in total fines, plus $10 for every pound of the substance spilled — an amount that has yet to be determined, Morris said.
On Feb. 27, the complaints stated, a leaking train held up traffic across five intersections in Chowchilla when the engineer found a car was leaking.
“Union Pacific records show that the train employees informed railroad dispatch center in Omaha, Neb., and did not inform local emergency response agencies,” Morris said.
North of Livingston in Merced County, a California Highway Patrol officer driving on Highway 99 noticed the leaking train and flagged down the engineer, Morris said. After a brief stop, the train started up again on orders from Union Pacific and headed to Stockton, spilling on the tracks the whole way.
Union Pacific is due in court in each of the counties in mid-February.